JOHANNESBURG - A lethal storm on South Africa’s eastern coast killed 18 people over the weekend, including four family members struck dead by lightning, a local government official said Monday.

“The unusual storm affected various areas around Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal midlands,” said KwaZulu-Natal government spokesman Lennox Mabaso.

Mabaso said the damage was still being assessed to determine if the areas should be declared disaster zones.

“The most horrific incident was the case of four family members who were struck by lightning in Ndwendwe, north of Durban, on Saturday,” said Mabaso.

The four people were inside a thatched-roof hut when lightning struck and set it ablaze.

Another two people were also struck by lightning in different towns in the province, he added.

The freak storm has uprooted trees and destroyed thousands of homes since Saturday afternoon, causing hundreds of millions of rands (tens of millions of dollars) of damage, he said.

“Government has provided temporary shelter to those who were left homeless and lost everything. The impact of this disaster is going to cost a lot of money,” said Mabaso.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele said extra staff would be provided for the emergency services to cope with more possible weather disasters.

“This is not the first, and it might happen again. It’s the climate change. Now we are planning ahead and we will work towards building human settlements that have more stable structures,” Ndebele told the SAPA news agency.